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Aviation History
2002
2002 - 1295.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT LOW-COST CARRIERS BRIAN DUNN / MONTREAL Air Canada unveils plan to Zip up West Jet in Calgary New operator's costs will be at least 20% lower than those of mainline parent Air Canada has unveiled Zip Air, its long-awaited western Canada- based discount carrier, which will take on Westjet from this summer flying between Calgary and Vancouver. No launch date has been set, but the airline will begin domestic services from Calgary with six 117- seat Boeing 737-200s Air Canada inherited through its takeover of Canadian Airlines. The new opera tor is designed to cut Air Canada's costs and match, rather than undercut, fares at Westjet, accord ing to Zip's president Stephen Smith, who is a former president of Calgary-based Westjet. The airline will launch with 250 staff, including Air Canada pilots who will be paid 90% of their nor mal scale plus performance incen tives. Within a year, Zip expects to double its fleet and add more short-haul routes within a 2.5h flight-time radius from Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton, including to the USA. The carrier will eventu ally have up to 1,000 employees and operate a fleet of 20 737-200s. The aircraft will be painted in a series of bright colours. The new airline will replace most Air Canada flights between Calgary and Vancouver. The flag carrier is assessing whether it still Zip will eventually fly 20 737-200s, painted in a series of bright colours needs to maintain business- class seating on Air Canada flights for passengers connecting to interna tional routes. Zip's costs will be at least 20% lower than those of Air Canada's mainline fleet in part because Zip employees will be paid less than their Air Canada counterparts. Other cost-cutting measures include no meal service or in-flight entertainment, and Zip will oper ate a single-type fleet of 737-200s. It will operate independently of Air Canada although it will pur chase maintenance services from its parent. Zip customers will be able to collect Air Canada Aeroplan frequent flyer points. Zip is the fourth new Air Canada brand introduced in the last six months. It launched its Eastern Canada low-cost arm Tango late last year, followed by AC Jetz, operating a fleet of four luxury-equipped 48-seat 737-200s for professional athletes and cor porate clients. It recently brought together its regional airline divi sions under the Jazz brand. START-UP Vyborg launches three months late Russian start-up carrier Vyborg is ready for launch, following deliv ery of the first of its five Ilyushin 11-114 turboprops. The aircraft arr ived three months later than sche duled due to a delay in the award of the airline operator's licence. The airline's first two aircraft, which are on lease from Uzbek national carrier Uzbekistan Air ways, are Klimov TV7-117S-pow- ered II-114s. They are several years old, but have flown only around 200h as they have been mostly grounded. The other three are new Il-114-lOOs equipped with Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127 engines, and are being completed at the Tashkent TAPO factory. They are being drawn from around 10 Il-114s which have been kept in storage semi-built for several years awaiting customers. The Vyborg lease package was put together by Ilyushin and TAPO with support from the St Peters burg city administration and Russia's ministry of transport. The aircraft will be based in St Petersburg and serve Russia's north-west region. The first year will effectively be an operational trial to assess the aircraft's perfor mance and operating costs. Klimov has been criticised by Uzbekistan Airways for the poor performance of the TV7-117S engines and its lack of support, but the design bureau says that it will pay "very special attention" to engines on Vyborg's two aircraft. Klimov admits that "difficult times in the 1990s prevented us from paying enough attention to the TV7-117", but says that it now aims to make the engine "a real commercial product". An improved, more powerful Series 2 version of the engine has been developed. It is rated at 2,090- 2,610kW (2,800-3,500shp) and is equipped with a full authority digi tal engine control system that improves fuel consumption. Klim ov plans to deliver some of the new engines soon for installation on Vyborg's aircraft. • AeroMexico has begun code- sharing on Japan Air Lines' twice-weekly Boeing 747 flights between Vancouver and Mexico City. • Polish flag carrier LOT will launch three-times weekly services from Warsaw to Bratislava on 6 May through its regional subsidiary Eurolot. • Northwest Airlink carrier Express Airlines I will upgrade two of its four daily Saab 340 flights between Detroit and Ottawa to Bombardier CRJ 50- seat regional jets starting on 1 August. • SilkAir will com mence thrice-weekly services from Singapore to Krabi next month on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, using an Airbus A319. • American Airlines has begun daily services between New York Kennedy and Tokyo Narita, using the Boeing 777. • Air Dolomiti plans to launch a code-share alliance with United Airlines next month to five European cities - Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt, Munich and Paris - and eight Italian cities - Bologna, Genoa, Pisa, Turin, Venice and Verona. Trieste- based Air Dolomiti is already linked with United's Star Alliance partner Lufthansa. • Mexicana Airlines will add four flights a week between Sacramento and Guadalajara from 1 July using Airbus A319s and A320s. • Delta Air Lines will begin daily service between Cincinnati and Rome on 1 July, using the Boeing MD-11. Saturday-only service by Boeing 737-800s between Cincinnati and Cancun, Mexico, will begin on 1 June. • Gulf Air will increase weekly frequencies from 17 to 25 between London Heathrow and the Gulf states of Abu Dhabi and Bahrain in July. • US Airways will begin daily Airbus A319 services between Washington National and Bermuda on 7 July, after receiving approval to transfer its route authority from BaltimoreA/Vashington International. • Lufthansa will introduce three-times weekly services between Munich and Dubai in October using Airbus A340s. Lufthansa already operates to Dubai from Frankfurt Main. www.fliqhtinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 30 APRIL - 6 MAY 2002 15
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